4 Months 1 Week 2 Days
by midnightjen
Summary: There might have been a dead guy in one of the aisles but that was no reason not to get a little shopping done. Takes place after 'Til It's Gone.
**a/n:** For thinktink2 who has been throwing writing thoughts my way all day. Takes place before 9 Tails of Seduction but after 'Til It's Gone.

 **4 Months 1 Week 2 Days**

He should have been interviewing the storeowner about the dead guy lying in the middle of one of his aisles. It might be Portland but it wasn't every day you walked into work to find that not only had someone broken into your store, they'd apparently done it so they could die.

Before Nick had gotten distracted – and thereby distracted the owner – he'd learned the owner had first realised something was wrong when he'd reached the aisle of antique silverware and found what he'd recognised but seriously hoped wasn't blood dribbling down the aisle. They weren't towering aisles that couldn't be seen over but they weren't exactly small with clear lines of sight and so it had taken him a while to follow the trail in the right direction and find the body.

Nick had gotten the salient details from Wu when they first arrived on scene. Well-dressed man in his early forties, no ID on him and his prints weren't in the system. Stab wounds to the back and left thigh, signs that he'd fought back against his attacker but no signs in or around the store to suggest it happened close by. Apparently the dead guy had broken in through the back and dragged himself as far into the store to hide as he could manage before he'd ultimately bled to death.

But that was about as far into the questioning as Nick had gotten before he'd become distracted by the contents of the glass display case he was leaning on as they spoke. More specifically he was distracted by a wedding set of rings that would be absolutely perfect for Adalind. The owner saw where he was looking, clocked the potential sale and promptly forgot all of his fear and sadness over the unknown man who'd broken into his store to die.

To be fair to the owner, Nick had pretty much forgotten about the guy too.

'Beautiful aren't they?' he asked with far too much enthusiasm given the dead guy lying a few aisles over. 'From the 1920's, all the original stones, sold to me by a woman who didn't know their worth and didn't much care – probably drugs – but she had all the paperwork and, well, I figured I could find a more deserving home for them.'

He rattled off all of the details like cut, colour, quality, something about the designer and the unusual addition of an eternity ring made to match the much older set but Nick wasn't listening. When he'd been looking for rings to propose to Juliette he'd agonised for months on cut and colour, looking over dozens of different rings in a dozen different jewellery stores.

Two seconds, in which he wasn't even looking, and he'd found the perfect ring for Adalind. That was probably fate trying to tell him something.

He didn't even have to ask to look at the set; the owner was already pulling them out of the case, still talking about the set's history (something about an elderly couple, married sixty nine years before they died, granddaughter inherited it…) and placed them on the counter. They were the right size and everything.

Fate was either really on his side today or trying to tell him something. It was probably both, much as he hated to admit it.

'I'll take them,' Nick said, cutting the guy off mid spiel and making him beam inappropriately because, you know, dead guy.

He didn't even wince when the owner told him how much the set cost, he doubted he and Adalind would bother with a big flashy wedding so he thought the extra money could definitely be spent buying her the perfect set of rings. He just handed over his credit card and tried not to think about ways he could hide the bill from Adalind when it came in.

The whole thing took two minutes and then the owner was handing him a small cream coloured gift bag with the store logo on it that he hastily stuffed into the inside pocket of his jacket (he zipped it up, there was no way in hell he was losing those) just seconds before Hank came looking for him.

His partner looked from the owner's wide smile to the way Nick quickly withdrew his hands from his jacket and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Then he looked down.

For a moment Hank seemed to be so surprised he couldn't even blink. His mouth didn't fall open in shock, his eyebrows didn't shoot up, he just stood there completely incapable of saying or doing anything as he stared at the case that contained nothing but rings.

Completely unperturbed by the possibility of being caught buying a ring for Adalind – used to hate her, now loved her, enemy Adalind – Nick asked Hank if they had an ID on the dead guy.

Hank held up a hand and Nick frowned at him. 'Don't speak,' Hank ordered.

'What?'

'Uh uh,' Hank snapped. 'I'm going to need a moment.'

'For what?' now Nick was amused, he wasn't stupid, he knew that Hank had an excellent idea of what he'd just walked up on, that didn't mean he'd couldn't amuse himself making Hank vocalise it.

'Just – you – I,' Hank spoke in fragments, and Nick had to fight back a grin. 'Adalind?' he asked finally, his voice strained. 'Really?'

Nick opened his mouth to give an answer but Hank cut him off.

'Don't, man, I don't even want to know. It is way to early in the day for that level of messed up.' And he walked away, back into the depths of the store and the dead body. Which apparently was the right level of messed up for this time of day.

'Your partner doesn't approve?' the owner asked, grin fading.

Nick considered the question, still amused by Hank's behaviour. Did Hank approve? It was hard to say, they'd never actually talked about his relationship with Adalind. It wasn't like they'd put any effort into hiding it, they just hadn't shouted it from the rooftops. That being said, how anyone could have misunderstood how much he cared for Adalind after the wreck he'd been those four days she'd been missing he wouldn't know. There was no way Hank could underestimate his feelings for Adalind. Was there?

In the end, he just shrugged and replied, 'He probably thinks it's too soon.'

Then he got back to what he'd originally wandered over to do. There wasn't much more the owner could add. He hadn't seen anything, hadn't heard anything and the guy definitely hadn't been in the store when he'd closed up the night before at 10:13. Apparently he'd checked his watch on the way out because he was running a little later than usual and didn't want his wife to worry.

There were security cameras – perfectly functional ones – all throughout the store (front and back) that caught the dead guy stumbling up to the back door, breaking in without even setting off the alarm and crawling down the aisle before he died curled up next to an bone tea set.

The owner happily gave them copies of all of the footage, eager to cooperate fully and solve the mystery. He probably wanted them out of his store as fast as possible as cops were bad for business. Not that his morning sales had suffered, Nick had certainly spent enough on the ring set to keep the owner happy while CSU processed the scene.

'Anything?' he asked when he met back up with Hank and Wu out front.

They both looked at him with wide eyes, neither saying anything. He rolled his eyes.

'The dead guy?' Nick prompted. 'Did we get an ID? Time of death? How about a crime scene?'

'So we're not going to talk about it?' Wu muttered.

'I thought that's what I was doing?'

'We're not talking about he dead guy,' Hank grumped.

'Something that is becoming more and more clear,' Nick said with exasperation. 'Did we get an ID on our body or not?'

'Huh,' Wu breathed. 'We're really not going to talk about it.'

Annoyed by the lack of answers he was getting, Nick walked back into the store to talk with the first officer on scene to try and get a clearer picture of what he and his partner had found when they'd finally been cleared to set out to follow the blood trail.

'Only goes as far as the end of the alley,' he explained to Nick.

'The trail just stops sir,' his partner added, quickly. 'We couldn't follow it further than that, so no idea which way he came from.'

Her words were not at all helpful and after asking for a few more details from them about the timing of things he went back outside to face Hank and Wu.

He was quite happy when he found Wu gone and Hank already in the car and waiting to head back to the station to look for traffic cams that might give them a better idea of where their victim had come from.

He really should have considered that the drive back would leave him locked in a moving car with Hank. Hank had apparently given up on being subtle.

'Dude,' he said as soon as they were moving and the chances of Nick escaping the conversation became next to none. 'You bought an engagement ring.'

'Actually,' Nick corrected. 'I got a wedding set. Adalind's going to love it.'

Apparently Hank hadn't expected him to confirm his suspicions so easily. He didn't seem to have a response ready.

'You bought Adalind a ring,' Hank said again, like if he repeated it Nick's answer would suddenly change.

'Yes,' Nick said slowly. It wasn't like he'd been actively looking, he still had four months, one week and two days before his six month deadline was up but well, the rings were perfect, why would he risk someone else buying them just because it was still a few months before he'd said he'd ask?

'Help me out here man,' Hank pleaded. 'It took you four years before you even thought about asking Juliette and then it took you months to find the right ring.'

'Yes.' What else was he supposed to say?

'Are you and Adalind even together? I mean it is for Adalind, right?'

Nick furrowed his brow at the question. 'Who else would they be for?'

'I don't know!' Hank cried. 'Anyone else?'

Nick thought that was a bit unfair but he couldn't exactly hold it against Hank, Adalind had nearly killed him. Still, it seemed a bit stupid to suggest there might be someone else.

'Are you even together?' Hank asked again because Nick hadn't bothered to answer him the first time. He'd kind of thought buying a ring implied the answer to that question was yes but today was apparently the day for stating the obvious.

'Of course we're together.'

'Of course we're together,' Hank repeated, the words tinged with absolute disbelief as he parroted them back at Nick. 'Since when?'

Nick had to think about that one, it wasn't exactly an easy relationship to define. Could he consider the kiss they'd shared all those months ago the beginning? Or was it before that? Or even after? What about the night before he left for Germany? That was the first time they'd slept together since they'd conceived Kelly, did it start then?

Or maybe he could only really call what he and Adalind had a relationship starting from that lunch date they'd gone on after that stupid fight that had started because he'd realised he found her attractive in her ugly pyjamas and fuzzy socks?

Honestly he didn't even know.

'It's either been since we moved into the loft or since we had that fight because of the fuzzy socks.'

While Hank seemed momentarily amused by the reminder of the fuzzy sock incident that didn't change the fact that he was wholly unimpressed with the situation. 'That's not even a year!'

'So?' Nick asked.

'Seven years!' Hank all but shouted. 'You were with Juliette for the better part of a decade and you still freaked when you started thinking about marriage!'

Nick shrugged and offered Hank the supremely unhelpful (though true), 'Adalind's different.'

Hank made some sort of angry noise in the back of his throat that might have been a growl and stomped on the breaks a little harder than necessary at a red light. 'How did this even happen? How the hell did you go from hating her and wanting to kill her to buying rings and thinking about proposing?'

That was another question Nick didn't really know how to answer. Hank hadn't spent all that much time with Adalind, he hadn't had the chance to get to know her like Monroe and Rosalee had. He didn't see how smart and funny she was, how much she loved Kelly (and him). Hank hadn't seen how fiercely protective Adalind could be of her friends, how much she worried about him when he was being reckless.

Hank didn't see the million and one little things that Nick had come to love about her, from the cheeky smile she got on her face when she surprised him by knowing something obscure, to the way she looked sleeping next to him on the mornings when Kelly let them sleep for just those few extra minutes.

Most of those things Hank would likely never get to see and frankly, Nick didn't feel like he had to justify his reasons for loving Adalind. Just because it had taken him years to feel like he was in the right place in his relationship with Juliette didn't mean he couldn't be ready to move forward with Adalind. Monroe and Rosalee had only known each other for a little bit over a year when he proposed to her, how was his wanting to marry Adalind any different?

Monroe had known Rosalee was right for him and he hadn't needed (or wanted) to waste any more time without her. Why should Nick feel any different about Adalind?

'Maybe because you tried to kill her! Or because she tried to kill me, stole your powers pretending to be Juliette, helped turn Juliette into a hexenbiest, nearly killed Wu – stop me when I get to something that sounds familiar.'

'I don't know what you expect me to say.'

'Yeah,' Hank muttered, 'I don't know either.'

They fell into a silence heavy with Hanks anger. Nick refused to apologise for buying Adalind a ring, he refused to explain why it didn't matter to him that Adalind had done all of those things. It wasn't like he didn't have a list of bad things he'd done to her that was just as long.

Had Hank always felt this way? He hadn't said anything before; he'd honestly been quite supportive during Adalind's abduction. Had that all just been for Kelly? Had Hank's willingness to help find Adalind been all about Kelly? He'd suspected at the time but he'd been happy if that were truly the case because it still meant that Hank was looking for Adalind. It was just he'd thought since then that Hank had come to realise he was quite serious about Adalind.

Marriage serious. He didn't understand why Hank was so surprised.

In the parking garage, Hank cut the engine but didn't take the keys out of the ignition. 'I know things are different for you, being a Grimm and all – man I've seen you take some serious shit and just roll right through like your life hadn't just been turned upside down – but this is Adalind we're talking about. Marriage to Adalind.'

'I love her,' Nick said simply. 'You don't have to like it, you don't have to understand it. It is what it is.'

Nick reached for the door handle but Hank spoke again, stopping him from getting out of the car. 'I don't get it,' he said quite unnecessarily. 'But if she makes you happy then I can accept it.'

Hank meant the words; Nick could hear it in his voice but that didn't mean much to him, not really. 'You don't have to accept it, Hank, in the end, it only matters what Adalind and I think.'

He didn't mean his words to be cruel but he wanted Hank to understand that whether or not his friends and family accepted it, this was something that was going to happen and sooner rather than later.

Grudgingly, Hank murmured, 'Man, Renard is going to flip.'

The thought made Nick grin.


End file.
